Interests:Politics, Business Development, wealth creation. I love people and love to be immersed in the social interests of people. I love history especially African history.

Gender:Male

Posted 20 January 2005 - 08:37 AM

Most Ghanaian surnames have meanings. They were mostly nicknames and usually an appellation that become shortened with time. Mine translates literally as 'the tree by the road side'.
The deep meaning is that the tree by the road side in the village setting provides needed shade for all passerbys. This people tend to be farmers on their way from their farms and would typically strike and leave their cutlasses in this same tree till they are about to go on their way. This way, this tree is left with soo many cutlass 'wounds' although it provided shade and comfort to all without any discrimination.
My family history has it that my great great grandfather actually 'bought' the name from a friend he met at a social gathering whose name it was originally. Interestingly, that friend actually kept his end of the bargain by not calling himself by that name anymore.

A little history for you RD.

"A child can play with its mother's breasts, but not its father's testicles" - Guinea.
"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives" - (Kenya).
"The man who marries a beautiful woman, and the farmer who grows corn by the roadside have the same problem" - Ethiopia.
"A short man is not a boy" - Nigeria and "No matter how hot your anger is, it cannot cook yam" - Nigeria.
It requires a lot of carefulness to kill the fly that perches on the scrotum" - Ghana.

lol! it is a real shame bout our surnames - i once asked ma dad and he started going through some long line of history and still didnt get to the point - rather who has the name - most ghanains havnt even heard of my surname before

RD, why does your husband laugh it off when you ask about the meaning of his name? I don't think its silly.

Like Goody said, they all have meanings and yes, some are variations of nicknames.
My maiden name is a derivation of the 'day name' of my great, great grandfather (see Thinfox's list above).
The colonial masters spelt the name the way they could pronounce it, and it stuck.
Needless to say, my great grandfather adopted this variation and passed the name on to his descendants.

Another point you have to realise is, the concept of "family names" is relatively new in Ghana. This is a legacy from colonial times.
Going back a few generations, everyone went by their given name. You didn't have to take on your dad's name as well.

Thank you, Papa. I did enjoy reading this - my husband didn't know what his name meant. Funny, my maiden name had to do with a tree as well!

I noticed a lot of Ghanaian names are hyphenated with Adu, Amo, Opoku, Osei, etc. so I was just curious - I know some English names such as Davidson meant the son of David or something like that. My ex said his father had shortened their last name.

sorry but am too afraid to put my name out there - been warned about that already.

Thank you for your responses, I was actually coming back today to delete this topic - glad I didn't!

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." -Plato

"A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones ..."

RD, why does your husband laugh it off when you ask about the meaning of his name? I don't think its silly.

Like Goody said, they all have meanings and yes, some are variations of nicknames.My maiden name is a derivation of the 'day name' of my great, great grandfather (see Thinfox's list above).The colonial masters spelt the name the way they could pronounce it, and it stuck.Needless to say, my great grandfather adopted this variation and passed the name on to his descendants.

Another point you have to realise is, the concept of "family names" is relatively new in Ghana. This is a legacy from colonial times.Going back a few generations, everyone went by their given name. You didn't have to take on your dad's name as well.

My husband laughs at me whenever I ask what does this or that mean and then I try to pronounce it correctly. He doesn't laugh as in demeaning, but surprised I guess that I would try? I know whenever I thanked anyone in Ghana, they always had a surprised expression, a little laugh with a "hey" thrown in.

I had no idea last names were from colonial occupation. I can't imagine how many Abena's, Adjoa's, Akua's, Kofi's, Kwame's, etc. there are!

And then I met a couple of young men who went by the nickname "Dada" as well!

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." -Plato

"A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones ..."

I had no idea last names were from colonial occupation. I can't imagine how many Abena's, Adjoa's, Akua's, Kofi's, Kwame's, etc. there are!

And then I met a couple of young men who went by the nickname "Dada" as well!

Not all surnames are from colonial occupation.

In Ghanian tradition or to be more specific in areas that I know of and especially where my parents and I come from there has been a method of naming hundreds of years before the white men (colonisation) came which is still in action to date.

For example:

First name Nana Korbia - (paternal grandmothers name, her grandmothers, her grandmothers)

Second nameAbena - (day name)

SurnameAgyeman (Surname) handed down from father to son and so on and that shows which tribe, area or house/family you come from.

There are other examples which when you heard the persons name you would have an idea of which number child they were as in 1st daughter, 3rd son etc and would also give an indication of which tribe or clan they were from.

There are other examples but this is a kind of a summary of names being given and why.

Surnames are a bit tricky now as with the world becoming a global village you could find an Agyeman in China and it sould be a marriage name if she holds onto the name for her sons and they hoold onto that same surname for their sons even when the Ghanian blood becomes dilute in China there will be Agyemans there.

I amy come back to this if I have more time today.

Edited by BlueHue, 20 January 2005 - 05:53 PM.

[img]http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:VgVliM_8AO_9nM:http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x150/seeramaiste1/JessicaRabbit.jpg[/img] I am surrounded by the hue of blue which keeps me whole.

I know several men who have the first name Nana - so it's a unisex name?

So you know she is Catholic from her first name?

When people see my married name, they assume I am married to a man of Japanese descent. They have asked if he has Japanese ancestors. Do you think someone could guess it by this clue?

This is all very interesting and educational to me. I would love to do a cultural study in Ghana and collect data on all the rich and intricate histories of names. Too bad I couldn't get a grant so I could live there for at least a year and gain a better understanding and appreciation for the culture (now that I am no longer so naive).

Thank you for responding.

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." -Plato

"A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones ..."

the second part was actually made up by my great,great, great grandfather. He was apparently given 3 different names on top of his day name and his father's name. He decided that it was too long but he wanted to pass it on to his son because they meant a lot to him. So he cut them short, he took the first 2 letters from the first one, the middle 3 from the second and the last 2 from the last... Over the years parts of the family have added letters here and there.. but my father kept the original...

I guess that surname means 3 different things...

Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death, Jealousy as cruel as the grave; its flames are flames of fire,A most vehement flame.

Karebo, i think by your statement you are talking of the Fante's and how they tried to change thier names or modify thier Akan names and make it more anglo. that statement is not too true please research into that. I know this because i come from a royal family that is traced back over a long lineage and this is documented not on paper but through masonary, woven cloth patterns and a whole lot of other means. Family names have always been around in ghanaian Culture.

it is never true that surname was handed over from father to son in the years
before. you are given a name at birth and that becomes your name till death,
but if you are lucky or unlucky you get a nickname that sticks to you.

an example is my fathers name is Kofi Sarpong and he decides to name me
after his uncle because he is a successful farmer, i get his name Kwaku Agyei.
it can even happen that i was not born on wednesday.

you can verify this with the birth date of older people and youwill see what i
mean. we starterd using our father's surname with the coming of the abrofo
and even then we sometimes make it compound like Kwaku Agyei-Sarpong.

neke gyen ne yoo?

saa ena Ewiase etee?

is this how the world is?

if a lie takes the lift and the truth the stairs, the lie will be faster, but the truth will get there too.

Interests:Politics, Business Development, wealth creation. I love people and love to be immersed in the social interests of people. I love history especially African history.

Gender:Male

Posted 22 November 2005 - 11:46 AM

Kwame Nkrumah was not born on Saturday. His original name was Kofi Mbia. In some Akan cultures, its normal for people to be given the entire name of some family member that may not reflect the actual day name of that person.

"A child can play with its mother's breasts, but not its father's testicles" - Guinea.
"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives" - (Kenya).
"The man who marries a beautiful woman, and the farmer who grows corn by the roadside have the same problem" - Ethiopia.
"A short man is not a boy" - Nigeria and "No matter how hot your anger is, it cannot cook yam" - Nigeria.
It requires a lot of carefulness to kill the fly that perches on the scrotum" - Ghana.

Kwame Nkrumah was not born on Saturday. His original name was Kofi Mbia. In some Akan cultures, its normal for people to be given the entire name of some family member that may not reflect the actual day name of that person.

it is never true that surname was handed over from father to son in the yearsbefore. you are given a name at birth and that becomes your name till death,but if you are lucky or unlucky you get a nickname that sticks to you.

an example is my fathers name is Kofi Sarpong and he decides to name meafter his uncle because he is a successful farmer, i get his name Kwaku Agyei.it can even happen that i was not born on wednesday.

you can verify this with the birth date of older people and youwill see what imean. we starterd using our father's surname with the coming of the abrofoand even then we sometimes make it compound like Kwaku Agyei-Sarpong.

Ewiase, that's very interesting.

I am related to a family named Sarpong by marriage.

Edited by ReggaeDancer, 22 November 2005 - 08:49 PM.

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." -Plato

"A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones ..."